Embarrassingly Embarrassing Moments
by Parry Otter and Roonil Wazlib
Summary: The Marauders are back for their seventh year at Hogwarts and the mischief making is right there with them, along with plenty of embarrassing moments. Includes LilyJames romance, dodgy DADA teacher, full moons and a little action on the side.
1. The refuge of crazy ones

**Disclamer: **(Oh no I don't know how to do this) We do not own Harry Potter. (I thought that went rather well)

* * *

Chapter 1

_Her fiery red hair was gleaming in the sunlight against the blue sky. He looked at her emerald green eyes and reached out his hand to caress her beautiful skin. She took away his breath as she smiled at him, and he thought he was the luckiest bloke in the universe. As she was running her fingers through his black messy hair and leaning closer to him he could feel her tickling breath on his face. Their lips were mere inches apart- _

SPLASH!

At the sudden impact with the cold water, he opened his eyes to reveal a surprisingly smiling Sirius, holding a bucket that had recently been full of water.

"SIRIUS, WHAT-"

"Prongsie, they're coming, they're coming," Sirius was yelling.

James blinked his eyes and tried to figure out why Sirius was currently jumping around James' bedroom wearing only his underpants. "Wha... who? What do you mean? Why am I wet? Why are you jumping around _my_ bedroom wearing _my _briefs," he said, looking at the horror in front of him.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Our guests you idiot," he said. "Oh and I liked the Snitches on them. You know the way they twirl. But anyway, they're coming, they're coming."

James reached for his glasses and finally realized that Sirius was talking about Remus and Peter who were coming for the weekend to stay. His parents were currently on vacation in the Bahamas, leaving the empty house to James and the recently moved in Sirius. It was mid-July and this was the last time they could all act like a bunch of idiots without a care in the world. Next year would be their seventh and final year at Hogwarts and after that… life. No more stupid pranks and no more goofing around. So they were all determined in enjoying their last year of childhood as much as they possibly could.

"Hulllllo. James? Sirius? You guys home?" Remus' voice rang from the foyer.

Sirius stopped bouncing. "Moony, you came," he yelled and ran downstairs.

A shriek was heard coming from Remus and James assumed he had seen Sirius' half-naked body.

"Sirius, for Merlin's sake, put some clothes on"

"What, no hug?"

"Padfoot, I am not going to give you a hug with only Snitch patterned pants to cover your manhood."

"Why not, Moony? They're not mine."

"That really isn't helping the situation."

At that moment, James came downstairs, mercifully having the sense of putting some clothes on before he graced them with his presence.

"James, get that madman away from me," Remus yelled while running away from Sirius' embrace.

James ignored this and rubbed his sleepy eyes. "Wh-hes Wo-homy," he yawned whilst ruffling his abnormally messy hair.

Sirius gave up on trying to hug Remus as he had somehow managed to jump on to the chandelier and was now swinging in the air away from Sirius' reach. "Wesawot?" Sirius asked, his face resembling a question mark.

"Where's Wormy?" James repeated after finishing his yawn.

In that precise moment a loud "Hey guys" was heard from outside and said boy walked through the door.

"There you are Wormtail. How'd you get here? I thought you failed your apparition test?" Sirius asked still looking like a question mark.

Peter's face reddened in embarrassment. "My mum took me by side-along apparition." He muttered to his shoes.

"Oh," they all said simultaneously.

"Well, now that we're all here," Sirius began but then a singing voice was heard coming from the living room Floo calling "Sirius"

"Huh, I wasn't expecting any girls today," Sirius said STILL looking like a question mark. "I'll just go see who it is."

"Shouldn't he put some clothes on before greeting any more guests?" James asked after Sirius had left the room. They all looked at each other for a moment but then James shrugged and said: "Anyway, want some brekkie?"

"Sure," Remus and Peter replied in unison.

After they had gotten Remus down from the chandelier they conjured up some breakfast consisting of much desired eggs and bacon. While thoroughly enjoying their meal Sirius entered the kitchen, a look of utter terror on his face.

A stuffed Peter looked up at him and asked: "Wot wong whiu?

"Merlin, Wormtail, cover your mouth," said James as he plucked the half chewed food from his sweater.

Sirius stared at them, without actually seeming to see them at all. James tried to wave a hand in front of his face.

No response.

"I- I- I forgot-"

"What did you forget?" Remus asked looking confused.

"Your brain, perhaps?" James added. Sirius didn't even notice the insult. Something was clearly, terribly wrong.

"I forgot the pink-haired monster."

Not for the first time, James worried about his friends' state of mind. "The what?" he asked.

Sirius only stepped aside, revealing a pink-haired, four year old, holding a headless teddy-bear.

Now the tables had turned, as the rest of the Marauders were looking like question marks.

"Wotcher," the monster spoke in a squeaky voice.

"Gentlemen, meet my cousin, Nymphadora Tonks," Sirius said in dismay.

"What is it?" Peter asked

"It's a child you imbecile," Remus scolded.

"Err… yeah… NO. It's a monster!" Sirius corrected. "This is my cousin's Andromeda's midget… err I mean kid!

"And why is she here?" James asked.

"It… IT… it is referred to as IT!" Sirius replied "It's here because I forgot I was supposed to baby-sit today. Andromeda and her husband Ted wanted the house free of any brats to celebrate their fifth anniversary."

"And she has to stay here?" Remus asked.

"Yes." Sirius sighed

"For the night?"

"Yes."

"With us?"

"Yes." Sirius seemed very happy that Remus had figured it out all on his own. He himself would never have been able to do that.

Remus had a feeling that this weekend would only end in complete chaos. "Merlin, help us."

* * *

"I'm hungry." 

"So?"

"I wanna eat."

"So eat."

"Mum said you'd feed me."

"I what?"

"Feed me."

"Huh…"

"I'm hungry."

"Moooony," Sirius cried "I don't want to feed it"

"Sirius for goodness sake, she's a girl not some kind of genderless creature," Remus replied.

"Yes it is."

"Fine, I'll get some food for her"

"Make sure to watch your fingers while you're at it."

Remus rolled his eyes as he walked passed him, leading Nymphadora to the kitchen.

As soon as the door closed a loud "Ouch" was heard coming from Remus.

"I did warn him," Sirius said smugly to the others.

* * *

Remus wondered how such a small child could have such sharp teeth, but he refused to give up and say she was a monster just yet. He studied the red marks on his finger and promptly healed them with a flick of his wand. He was quite good at healing spells by now. 

Nymphadora didn't seem to mind that he had gotten rid of the marks so easily, nor did she seem to feel any remorse for her actions. "Who're you?" she asked as they neared the kitchen.

Remus stopped to look at her. "I'm Sirius' friend."

"What's your name?"

She was talking annoyingly fast. "Remus Lupin," he said.

"Cousin Siri called you Moony. Is that your name too?"

"No, it's just Remus."

"I like Moony. Moonymoonmoonmoony. Can I call you Moony?"

He was beginning to have trouble understanding her abnormally fast babbling. "No."

"Okay, Moony."

"It's _Remus_."

"I'm Tonks."

The sudden change of subject caught him completely off guard. "I thought your name was Nymphadora?"

A look of pure hatred met his blue eyes as he looked in her grey ones. They seemed to have a storm raging in them. It was quite scary.

Remus swallowed in fear. "Sorry, Tonks it is."

A satisfied smirk appeared on Tonks' face and the storm immediately vanished from her eyes

"So… Err… What do you want to eat?" he said as they reached the kitchen.

The bouncy kid never stood still and was currently climbing on top of the kitchen table. "You," she said just before she lost her balance and fell to the floor.

Remus was about to help her up, but she seemed used to falling flat on her face and promptly stood up again as if nothing had happened. "What? No you can't eat me, I don't taste very good," he finally managed to say.

Tonks contemplated that for a second and then reached the conclusion that he was probably right. "Then I want chocolate. Do you like chocolate? I like chocolate. Do you have some chocolate?"

He didn't think it would be a good idea to give the already hyperactive child, sugar "I don't think that counts as food."

"Chocolate."

"Err… why don't you have an apple?"

Her eyes had a storm in them again. That wasn't good. "CHOCOLATE!" she screamed.

Remus quickly hid his fingers in his pockets. "Alright, alright. Here's your chocolate. Just don't hurt me or make the storm come get me."

"Thanks Moony," she said as she took the offered chocolate.

"No problem Tonks," Remus replied in a voice he thought he had abandoned in fourth year.

As soon as she had exited the room, he sank down in a chair and hid his face in his hands. He drew a deep breath and released it slowly. _Okay. I'm okay. She didn't eat me. I'm still alive. She's gone now. I'm safe. Get a grip Remus, it's only a child. You're seventeen years old. A Marauder. A Gryffindor. A werewolf for Merlin's sake. _

A few minutes later James came bursting through the kitchen door. He had tears in his eyes and seemed as close to a breakdown, as Remus felt.

"Why did you have to give her sugar Moony? WHY?" he cried.

"She forced me. I couldn't do anything. She looked like she wasn't going to let me get away from her, with all my fingers intact, without giving her what she wanted." Remus knew he was close to hyperventilating but he didn't let it show.

James looked at him in disgust. "What are you, a Marauder or a mouse?"

"A mouse."

James was about to say something else, but was interrupted by a high pitched shriek coming from the living room. They ran to the source of the shriek only to find the pink-haired monster, covered in chocolate, and bouncing on top of Peter's abnormally large belly, whilst her hair was changing colour with each bounce.

"Fancy a cup of tea?" James asked Remus looking traumatized at the sight in front of them.

Remus swallowed. "Yes, please," he replied.

"Can I join?" was heard from behind the sofa where Sirius was currently hiding from the terror.

* * *

They were soon sitting at the kitchen table, leaving Peter to take care of the problem. As they drank their tea, hearing only the odd scream from Peter, James' thoughts soon drifted to the dream he'd had earlier this morning. He didn't know why she was always on his mind or why he cared at all. _I mean it isn't as if I like her flaming red hair or those gorgeous emerald green_ _eyes- STOP thinking like that. I don't care if she doesn't like me. I don't care if she dates other guys. I don't care if she… if she… ARGH I DO CARE!_

"James. Why are you hitting your head with a teacup?" Remus asked after watching his friend for the past minute.

James opened his eyes to see that his friends were looking at him with bewilderment etched in their faces. "What? I was?" he asked them.

Sirius took on the look of a Healer who specialized in mental illnesses. It didn't suit him very well, as he looked like a tortoise with digesting problems. "It is my professional opinion that he is indeed thinking about one Lily Evans. You can see it in the way he manages to put on the biggest frown known to mankind, all the while looking like an injured soldier. What do you think, Healer Moony?" he said in an annoyingly dry voice.

"What? No I wasn't," James replied, his own voice suddenly very squeaky.

Remus put on the same look as Sirius, only he managed to make it look real. "Yes, I concur, Healer Padfoot. He is obviously in denial over his own feelings."

"WHAT? I AM NOT IN DENIAL!"

"It is my conclusion that when you drool on a table for a few minutes and then suddenly start hitting your own head with a teacup, which surprisingly didn't brake with the impact of your enormous head, you are in fact in denial."

"Yes, I agree," Sirius added. "I believe he did that because he didn't want to admit to himself that he's completely in love with her."

"I most certainly am not in love with her!"

Sirius had a sad look on his face that said he did not believe a word James had said. "Sure."

Remus looked at the lost case in front of him. "Of course you aren't."

James stuck out his tongue at Remus and was soon deeply engaged in banging the teacup against his head once more.

Remus however, didn't seem to notice this as he appeared to be thinking very hard about something. "But aren't you dating that Jennifer from Ravenclaw?" he asked James.

But before James could answer, Sirius burst out laughing until tears were streaming down his face. James frowned at him, highly offended that Sirius found his misfortune so amusing.

"Why is he laughing so hard?" asked Remus, looking very confused that his question had caused such a reaction.

James had the look of an axe murderer in his eyes. "Yes Sirius, please tell us the reason for your sudden lunacy." _I shouldn't have told him that. I should NOT have told him that!_

Sirius wiped the tears from his face and managed in between giggles to tell Remus that Jennifer had broken up with James on the train last June. _Traitor! _

"But why did she do that?" Remus asked. "And why didn't you tell us when we were on the train?"

"He was too embarrassed to tell us about it," said Sirius, after recovering from his fit of laughter. "I had to use Firewhiskey to drag it out of him."

Remus seemed to be about to yell at them for drinking but he was too occupied, trying to stop James from causing physical damage to Sirius.

Sirius clearly didn't take the hint about shutting up and went on. "So there they were, locked in the bathroom on the train and snogging each other senseless, when Jennifer suddenly asks if James knows the contraceptive charm." Here Sirius couldn't help himself any longer and the next few minutes were spent in trying to calm James down, while Sirius laughed his arse off. "Then do you know what he says?" he said after calming himself down. "The stupid arsehole says he's _saving himself._"

James' face was now the colour of a tomato, so he buried it in his hands. It didn't really work since his ears were glowing like a pair of red light bulbs. "I thought girls liked it when blokes are all sensitive like that," he muttered into his hands.

Sirius grinned. "Oh yes, usually they do," he said solemnly. "But they don't like it when you say you were saving yourself for a girl called Lily."

* * *

As the night fell on the Potter home, Tonks started to get sleepy while sitting in Remus' lap. Remus, who was currently reading a book to the hyperactive monster they'd been trying to settle down all day, nodded to the so called babysitter to go and put her to bed. The little girl on the other hand was extremely aware of her surroundings and immediately bolted upright screaming that she didn't want her funny smelling cousin to put her to bed. She wanted Remus to do it instead. Sirius, delighted at the fact that she had chosen someone else than him to put her to bed, simply said to his friend that he had prepared some sort of a sleeping area for her in Mr. and Mrs. Potter's room. Remus tiredly stood up, holding the now very satisfied girl in his hands and made his way upstairs, leaving the other Marauders smirking for some reason. 

As he entered the Master bedroom, Nymphadora had settled her head on his shoulder and was currently enjoying the taste of her own thumb. He soon found out that the sleeping area Sirius had talked about was actually just all her things casually thrown on the bed. Remus just sighed and began to clear the bed. He then laid her on the bed and surrounded her with all the pillows he could find to make sure she wouldn't fall out of the bed. The fact that it was impossible to fall out of the enormous bed clearly didn't enter his mind. He was about to turn away and go back to his friends when he realized there was something odd about the little girl.

"Tonks?"

"Yeah," she answered sleepily and opened one eye to look at him.

He wasn't sure if she had the energy to stay up much longer but if he wouldn't get an answer now, he was afraid that he would burst from curiosity.

"Why is your hair pink?"

She opened both eyes now. "Don't tell my mum. She doesn't like it when it's pink," she said mysteriously.

Remus looked even more confused now. "What do you mean, she doesn't like it? Isn't it always pink?" he asked as he sat down on the bed.

Her eyes sparkled with mischief. "Nope, I can change it when I want," she paused as if she wasn't sure if she was allowed to say more, but that only seemed to make it all the more tempting. "Do you wanna see?" she asked.

Remus wasn't really sure if she was telling the truth, but his curiosity got the better of him. "Sure."

She closed her eyes and concentrated hard for a moment and when she opened them, her hair had turned shocking green.

It took Remus a while to realize that he was staring. "Are you a Metamorphmagus or something like that?"

"Yup, but mum says pink's not a hair colour… do you swear you won't tell her?"

"I solemnly swear that I won't tell a thing. And I'll even make sure that the others won't either."

She looked relived. "Okay, thanks Moony."

He smiled and stood up from the bed. "Good night then."

"No! You can't go. What if there's a boggart under the bed?" she suddenly looked terrified at the thought.

He bent down to look under the bed. "Nope, there's nothing there."

"But what if he's hiding somewhere else? Can't you stay here and hit him in the head when he comes?"

"No, I'm sorry Tonks, but I have to go and make sure your cousin doesn't destroy the house."

She seemed to understand that, but the fear in her eyes was still there. He knew he shouldn't leave his friends alone for long, but those eyes were too much. Apparently puppy dog eyes ran in the family. "Look," he began. "Why don't I just stay until you fall asleep? How does that sound?"

Immediately, her eyes lit up. "Okay, but you have to promise to look under the bed again before you leave."

He sighed and prepared himself for the waiting. A few moments later, a couple of snores could be heard coming from the bedroom.

* * *

Remus woke up when the sun hit his eyes, and took a moment to realize that he had fallen asleep, fully clothed, next to a green haired four-year old. She was mercifully still asleep, probably exhausted from all the bouncing. Then it hit him. Where were his friends? Why had they not woken him up, or had they realized that he hadn't come back downstairs? 

He jumped out of the bed and ran downstairs, dreading what he would find there. When he reached the living room, he saw that his fears were not without reason. There, lying on the floor, his friends were snoring loudly. Surrounded by empty bottles of butterbeer and Firewhiskey. The sofa had been turned upside down and music was coming from the WWN, somewhere among the large pile of snacks and food.

This was definitely the remains of a party. There was no way they could have done this on their own. _Typical, they turn the house into a war zone, and I have to clean it up because they're too hung-over to do anything other than moan in agony. Well not this time._

He took out his wand, conjured up three buckets full of cold water and levitated them over each head. The gasps of ice-cold horror were like music to his ears.

"Not again!" James yelled and then flinched. "Yelling not good. Yelling bad."

Peter looked as he was about to burst into tears. "Where are the bunnies? The bunnies are coming. Help me, I don't wanna die," he said between sobs.

No response from Sirius. If anything he was snoring louder than before.

"SIRIUS, WAKE UP!"

"SNORE"

"All right, that's it," Remus said as he rolled up his sleeves. _Levicorpus._

It was no use. Snores were still coming from Sirius' upside down body. His shirt was in his face and the empty bottle of Firewhiskey, he had been holding in his hand, fell to the floor and shattered. Sirius didn't even flinch at the sound.

Remus sighed and fixed the bottle with a flick of his wand. He went over to Sirius and lifted the curse. _That should wake him up._

"GAH! MOONY!"

* * *

Sirius rubbed his pounding head as he walked into the kitchen. "Stupid werewolf," he muttered to himself. "I'd like to see him flat on his face for once. My poor beautiful nose will be bent for the rest of my life." 

As he poured butterbeer over his cereal (don't ask) he heard Peter screaming from the living room. "NO, NOT THE BUTTERFLIES. PLEASE, MAKE THEM GO AWAY. I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE." He then heard a loud smack and assumed that Remus had hit Peter in the head.

James came walking through the door, muttering something about buckets. _Hmm maybe that explains why I'm wet. _He plumped down on the next chair and buried his face in his hands. "Ugh, headache… I'm never drinking again," he said and managed to open one eye, but closed it when he saw the irritating smirk on Sirius' face.

"Here mate, have some cereal," said Sirius cheerfully. He pushed his bowl of butterbeer-soaked cereal across the table. James looked at the cereal, thought about it for a second, then took a large spoonful and shoved it in his mouth.

"That's disgusting, you know," he said to Sirius.

"Yeah, but it's disgustingly good."

James shook his head. It looked painful."There's no such thing as disgustingly good," he said after recovering from the head shaking.

"Yes, there is," Sirius replied.

"No, there isn't."

"Is."

"Isn't."

"Is."

"Isn't."

"Is."

"Did you know that you're missing an eyebrow?" said James, probably just trying to shut him up.

"Well, you're missing a brain," Sirius shot back. _Hah! Take that for trying to shut me up._

"Padfoot, I'm not joking. You are missing an eyebrow."

Sirius didn't believe him, but he didn't want to risk it. He checked.

"Bugger!"

"Told you so."

"How did this happen? I wasn't that drunk, was I? I mean somebody must have shaved it off when I passed out. Who could do such a thing? Is there no mercy in the world? Oh, the cruelty. Why me? WHY ME?" He was sobbing by now.

"Stop being so melodramatic, it'll grow back," said James, frowning. "And don't shout. I have a massive hippogriff dancing on top of my skull."

"My beautiful eyebr-" Sirius' reply was cut off by four school owls, flying through the window. They dropped the letters on the kitchen table then flew right back out again.

"GUYS, THE HOGWARTS LETTERS ARE HERE," yelled Sirius, secretly enjoying the painful look on James' face. The missing eyebrow was clearly forgotten.

Soon they were all busy opening their letters, and as Sirius read the usual boring stuff about which books he had to buy and when the train would leave, he heard a snort coming from James. He looked up and saw that James was holding a Head Boy badge in his hands, looking at it without seeming to recognise it.

"Huh, they didn't even mark the letters right this time," James snorted then looked at Remus. "Here's your badge Moony."

He held it up to Remus' face, but Remus just stood there, staring. "Prongs," he said in a shaky voice. "That badge is yours."

**

* * *

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**A/N: **We welcome any reviews, good or bad. First time writers. We're really nervous.


	2. Abandon ship

**Disclaimer: **Hmm, I think we spelled that wrong in the first chapter. Oh well, Harry's not ours.

Chapter two: Abandon Ship

_Why? Why is this happening to me? _Lily thought to herself as she ran down the garden slope of the hotel that was hosting her sisters wedding reception this weekend. Only minutes ago she'd had one of the worst experiences of her life. On Friday her older sister Petunia was about to marry a pig-like man called Vernon Dursley. After the wedding rehearsal they had all gone back to the hotel where they were staying (the reception was going to be held there as well) to have dinner together before the big day tomorrow. Lily had been taking a walk around the hotel when she suddenly heard a scream that sounded like someone was under an attack. She had run to where the sound was coming from and as soon as she opened the door, she was met with a horrible sight. Her sister was lying on the floor, her violet dress showing off her bony legs and her hat was in an odd position on her head. On top of her was what seemed to be an abnormally large pig wearing a suit, caressing her as she giggled with her horse-like laughter. Lily, frozen in her step, realized that the pig-like man was actually Vernon and they were enjoying themselves on the floor in what they would call a pre-marriage love scene. Petunia suddenly realized that someone was standing in the room and as soon as she saw her very much disliked sister standing there horror struck, she had started screaming at the top of her lungs. With the sudden outburst, Lily had snapped from the horror trance and started to run as fast as she could out of the hotel.

A few moments later, she found herself sitting on a bench, burying her face in her hands. _This is too much for one person to handle. Why can't I have a normal life with a normal sister? Well actually I am the strange one. I'm the only witch in the family, not she. Why can't she just accept me for what I am? She didn't have to go on and make such a fuss about it when she told Vernon. He's mental that one. Oh god! I'm having a flashback of what I just saw only by thinking of his name. I think I'm scarred for life! _

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard footsteps heading her way and a frantic Petunia was yelling at their mother in the exact words; "WHY DOES THAT… THAT… FREAK ALWAYS HAVE TO RUIN EVERYTHING?!" Lily, not that ready to face the wrath of her sister, decided to move a little further away from the commotion before the sobbing began.

As Lily entered a clearing, she was met with a beautiful pond which was covered with her favourite flower; Water lilies. As she gazed over the pond, drinking in its beauty, she remembered that she had left her poor mum alone with her sister. But then again she had spent her whole summer helping her daughter to plan the wedding so a few more minutes wouldn't hurt. _This summer has been a disaster. Everything covered in peach. Peach dresses, peach tablecloths, peach wedding invitations, peach flowers, just everything in peach! Peach! Peach! Peach! Thank Merlin it will all be over tomorrow. And then there will be two whole weeks before she returns from her honeymoon in Barbados and from there, there will also be only two weeks before school starts. Thinking of school, when will my letter arrive? _With that thought it started to get dark and she decided that now would probably be safe to return to her bedroom and remain there 'till morning.

* * *

The morning came as expected but Lily wasn't so sure that she wanted to get up and face the disaster in the making. She didn't actually know that the day would end in a disaster but somehow it always did. She had tried everything to make her sister not hate her so much. She tried being normal when she came home over the holidays, but there was always something that reminded her sister that she was, in her opinion, a freak. This day would probably turn out the same way.

Lily sat bolt upright in her bed.

"That's it!" she said to herself. "I'm not taking any more of this crap from her for being what I am. It's time that I did something about this."

She jumped out of bed, glancing between the mirror and the horrible peach coloured dress she was supposed to wear at the wedding. She decided that she would not be seen in that thing with all its puffy shoulder pads, bows and taffeta. She took the bows off, especially the one that was around her waist, tied in a huge bow on her back. She was about to grab a pair of scissors, when she remembered that she had come of age last month and was now allowed to do magic outside of school. _That's it. I've gone completely mental! _She quickly found her wand and started cutting the taffeta and shoulder pads off, leaving no marks that it had been there in the first place. Underneath all of the layers of taffeta there was a silk dress with normal shoulder straps that actually looked rather nice.

Half an hour later Lily exited her room in her new peach silk dress with a single white flower in her vividly red hair. Her mother had been walking down the hall when she stopped dead in her tracks as she saw her daughter.

"Oh, Lily," she said in awe. "Darling, you're beautiful."

Lily smiled at her mother at those remarks and thanked her. Mrs. Evans hugged her daughter, but suddenly she realized what Lily had actually done to the dress.

"Oh no, Lily what do you think your sister will say to this," she asked nervously.

"What will I say to what?"

As Mrs. Evans turned around to face her older daughter, Lily came into Petunia's view.

A loud crash was heard as Petunia dropped a large bowl that had contained flowers for the other bridesmaid's hairs and her own.

"WHAT… IS… THAT?" Petunia pointed to her sister with a trembling finger. "What have you done to my dress?"

"I changed it," answered Lily in a remarkably cheeky voice. "I didn't like how it looked so I changed it."

"You did WHAT? HOW?" Petunia was now turning purple with anger, resembling her husband a bit too much.

"I just cut it off with my wand," said Lily.

"WITH WHAT?" Petunia was boiling. Mrs. Evans rushed over to her older daughter, trying to calm her down.

"I'm sorry Petunia, but I'm not pretending to be someone I'm not any more. It doesn't matter if I try acting normal for you. You still keep looking at me the same way. So what's the difference?" Lily wasn't the slightest bit upset and just turned around walking away from her shrieking sister, smiling to herself. She had felt so good since she had gotten her first Hogwarts letter six years ago, that explained all the odd things that had happened around her because she was a witch.

An hour later Petunia had stopped shrieking and was now putting on her dress in her room. Lily wasn't surprised that she hadn't looked at her since this morning and acted like she wasn't even there. She was actually quite glad that she wouldn't have to be around her until the wedding itself, which would begin shortly. Sitting down in the lounge, reading a book, she heard all the women coming downstairs to leave for the church. Lily got up and joined them in the cars that were supposed to take them to the church. Feeling much lighter about the wedding than she had the day before, she was actually looking forward to what would come next.

* * *

The wedding had gone exactly as it was supposed to, except for the fact that the bride was not talking to one of her bridesmaids. The pig-like git had officially joined the family, along with his whole pig-like family, including his very unpleasant sister Marge. They all thought Lily was actually going to a boarding school for delinquents, much to her amusement. The wedding reception had started and everybody was congratulating the newlyweds and their parents. Lily, not wanting to receive them too, had sat down at their table. When all the congratulations had been said, Petunia and Vernon headed for the cake to cut it. Lily got up and walked closer to them to see if the pig would be able to refrain from digging into the cake with his bare hands. With the cake knife mounted in Petunia's and Vernon's hands, there was a sudden fluttering in the air. As Lily looked up at the source of the gust she saw a large brown owl swooping down and with a splash, it landed on top of the centre of everyone's attention… the cake. Lily, not wanting to believe that this was happening, closed her eyes, only to discover when she opened them again, a stunned cake-covered crowd and in the midst of it stood her sister and her husband covered from head to toe. Vernon was looking extremely purple in the face but no one was sure if it was because of the cake, which had had purple frosting on it, or of the fact that he was boiling with anger. Fortunately they needn't wait long for confirmation because Vernon started bellowing out incomprehensible swears and curses. Lily came quickly to her senses and realized that the owl was probably delivering a letter to her. She grabbed the owl in her arms and ran as fast as she could away from the commotion, and more importantly, her manic sister.

Hearing the shrieks and yells all the way to her new found hiding place, she didn't slow down until she was sure that no one was following her. As the pond came into view she sat down and put the owl beside her. The owl had luckily remained calm throughout the running, and was now holding out her leg to give Lily her letter. When Lily had removed the letter she gave the owl a pat before it took off into the blue sky.

Looking at the envelope of yellowish parchment, addressed in green ink, Lily realized immediately that this was her school letter telling her to catch the Hogwarts Express as usual from King's Cross station on September the first. The envelope also contained a list of things that she needed to buy before heading back to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, for her seventh and final year. What she didn't know was that there was something else in the envelope, a Head Girl badge.

* * *

One week later Lily was walking down Diagon Alley and heading for Gringotts. She had decided not to go with her parents this time as they always had to stop and stare at everything remotely magical (which was quite a lot). The trip to Gringotts alone usually took half an hour with them around.

She quickly got her Muggle money changed into Galleons, Sickles and Knuts and was about to walk out of the bank when she heard a familiar voice behind her. "Please, can we go again? Please, I swear I've got some money down there. Just one more ride, I beg of you."

Oh, no. There were only four people in the world who would dare to use Gringotts as an amusement park. James Potter and his gang. She turned around, just in time to see Potter being dragged by the ear by an angry goblin. It was a very peculiar sight since the goblin only reached his stomach. _Ooh this one I have to fix in my memory forever._ Lily thought to herself.

"The Gringotts carts are not to be used as a source of entertainment," the goblin was yelling furiously. "Therefore, I am banning you from this bank, for at least a year. Please, feel free to come back when you've GROWN UP!"

Lily watched as the boys were shoved unceremoniously through the front door and sincerely hoped that no one knew that she knew them. _Those idiotic lunatics will never grow up. So I guess they'll never step foot into Gringotts again. _She shrugged. _Works for me. _

She waited for a moment before she went outside, hoping to avoid the Marauders. _Stupid gang name. _She looked around but couldn't see them anywhere, so she sat down and took out her Hogwarts letter. _Now where's that book list? _She reached inside the envelope. _Wait, what's this? _Her fingers had touched something cold. She took it out and stared. _Is that a… a… a Head Girl badge? No it can't be… can it?

* * *

_

"Aw, that's unfair. Those goblins have no sense of humour. I swear they've all got broomsticks shoved up their arses," said James as he rubbed his sore ear.

Sirius was looking a bit green but he still managed to keep his trademark grin on his face. "Nah," he said. "Broomsticks are too big. Wands are more like it."

"I wanna go again," said Peter with tears in his eyes.

"I know Peter," said Remus solemnly as he patted him on the back. "We all want to go again but you heard the goblins, there's no way we can sneak past them. Even if we had the invisibility cloak, it would be madness to try and fool them twice."

"I don't feel so good," Sirius said, not grinning anymore.

"Well, I told you it was a bad idea to have four ice-creams before we went to Gringotts. Of course, I never thought you'd listen, but if you had you wouldn't be looking for a bin right now, would you?" said James irritably.

As Sirius went looking for the nearest dustbin, Remus looked at James, frowning in thought. "But Prongs, didn't you have four ice-creams too?" he asked.

James chose not to dignify that with an answer. "I know what we can do," he said suddenly. "We can use disguises to get into Gringotts again."

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Prongs," said Remus.

"Nonsense, Moony, It's a brilliant idea. When have my ideas ever failed you?"

Remus raised an eyebrow. That was never a good sign. "Well," he began "There's the incident in fourth year, involving McGonagall, a wig and a serenade. Then there was the time when we almost got killed after you decided it was a good idea to throw a party in the Forbidden Forest."

James, thinking that the speech was over, began to open his mouth but he was sadly mistaken. "Or how about the time when you decided to let it snow in the Slytherin common room?"

"But you have to admit that it was a good idea, I just didn't think they would dare to create a thunder storm in our common room."

Remus just shook his head then turned around when he heard Sirius calling. "Hey, guess who I ran into while I was looking for a dustbin," Sirius yelled as he ran towards them. "Cousin Bella was going into a seer's shop of all places when she saw me and couldn't resist yelling at the family's white sheep. Of course she never got the chance as my insides decided that this was the right time to abandon ship."

"She must have loved that," said Peter, looking adoringly at his hero.

"Oh yes, by the time that she managed to wipe the spew off her face, she looked like a Hungarian Horntail."

"Padfoot, I just had the best idea ever," said James gleefully.

Sirius' face fell. "Oh no, don't tell me, it involves snow and Gringotts. Am I right?"

James frowned. "Why can't anyone see that it was a great idea? But anyway, that's not what I was going to say. I was thinking we could all dress up as women and then-"

"Wait, I am not about to dress up as a girl," Sirius exclaimed. "Bond never dresses up as a girl, so I won't either."

"Who's Bond?" said James, looking perplexed.

"It's better if only one of you knows," said Remus.

James never had the chance to reply because in that moment Lily walked right past them without even looking up.

"Hey Evans," James yelled after her, but she didn't seem to notice and continued to stare at something in her hands. _What is that? _James thought. _It looks familiar… wait… is it a… no, it can't be._

"Is that a Head Girl badge she's holding?" Sirius asked James. "James? JAMES?" he waved a hand in front of James' face but he didn't even blink.

James grinned. "This is the best day of my life."

* * *

As Lily entered King's Cross station in London on the first of September, she noticed that there was a commotion amongst the Muggles on platform 6. Taking advantage of the distraction she hurried towards the wall between platforms 9 and 10. The barrier which divided the platforms was actually a gateway to the Hogwarts express platform. Lily headed straight towards the wall, but instead of knocking into it she went through it and landed on platform nine and three-quarters.

The platform was buzzing with students and parents who were saying goodbye to each other, at these moments Lily wished she could have her parents there with her but they couldn't cross the barrier. The steaming scarlet train was getting ready to leave the platform as the students looked for a compartment to occupy. Lily hurried on the train and walked past the full compartments. _Well at least there is one good thing that comes with the job of being a Head Girl._ Lily thought to herself.

As she stopped in front of the Head compartment in the front of the train she could hear voices coming from it. Looking around, she thought that this might not be the right compartment, but when she noticed the obvious sign on the door reading _Head Compartment_ she started to wonder why it was as if there was a herd of elephants behind the door. Pulling on the door she was met with a sight that she had least expected to find, but then again when she thought of why a herd of elephants should be inside of a train, she realized that there were only four people that could make such noise.

In the compartment four of the most annoying boys in the whole school were sitting on the floor, playing exploding snap. At the sight of Lily entering the compartment, the Marauders stopped their game immediately. Lily, standing dumbstruck, looked at each of them and was about to start yelling at them when she caught a glimpse of gold sparkling from the person sitting on the far right of the compartment. It was a Head Boy badge pinned on the robes. Expecting to look up and finding the face of that person to be Remus, she found that her prayers had not been answered. The one and only James Potter was standing there, smirking his trademark grin while ruffling his hair, looking like a plump tomato.


End file.
